Friday, March 3, 2017

Tickets went on sale today for the Elvis Costello And The Imposters Imperial Bedroom And Other Chambers concert on June 12 at the Huntington Bank Pavilion. Dawes will be the opening act.

Other shows currently on sale are Denny Laine (May 8) and Micky Dolenz (June 13 and 14) at City Winery Chicago; The Zombies (April 13 and 14) and Flat Five (June 9) at Thalia Hall; Nouvelle Vague (March 27) and New Pornographers (April 19) at Metro; and The Pixies at Chicago Theatre on October 8.

There’s a showcase at Metro tomorrow night featuring three bands that formed over 20 years ago but are still highly regarded. The Lilacs, led by singer-guitarist Ken Kurson, will be performing for the first time in quite a while. Material Reissue brought back original Material Issue members Ted Ansani and Mike Zelenko for a 2011 reunion gig at International Pop Overthrow - Chicago with singer-guitarist Phil Angotti replacing the late Jim Ellison. They’ve been playing the occasional gig around town ever since, such as opening for Matthew Sweet at Park West. The Bad Examples have been back together for a while now, even as singer-guitarist Ralph Covert continues his successful Ralph’s World career. The all-ages show is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m.

The schedule for this year’s International Pop Overthrow - Chicago at Red Line Tap is now available online and once again, a lot of long-time favorites will be involved. Some of the more familiar acts are Steve Dawson from Dolly Varden, Phil Angotti, Ellis Clark And The Big Parade, Trolley, The Artist Formally Known As Vince, The Bishop’s Daredevil Stunt Club, The Unswept, Dave Rave, The Collectors, Mike Vanderbilt And The Suburban Garage Sound, Metropoly, The Webstirs, Sex Ritter, Pop Dollys, The Red Plastic Buddha, The Jeremy Band, and The Romeros. Plus, there are always exciting new bands waiting to be discovered.

The 20th Annual Chicago European Union Film Festival opened tonight at the Gene Siskel Film Center with the U.S. Premiere of director Jameson Cucciardi’s romantic comedy 20,000 Reasons. The festival will offer 62 films from 28 countries through March 30.

The Britannicas have a new song penned by vocalist-bassist Herb Eimerman called “Real World Time” can be heard on vocalist-drummer Joe Algeri’s Bandcamp page. It will be on a various artists compilation titled 12 String High Vol. 2 on the Spanish label You Are The Cosmos this summer. Eimerman lives here in the Chicago area, Algeri resides in Australia, and through the marvels of modern technology, they record jangling power pop music together, along with the Swedish musicians Stefan Johansson and Magnus Karlsson.

The Arcada Theatre in St. Charles has a grand opening tonight for its Club Arcada Speakeasy And Showroom. It’s a Roaring Twenties themed collection of small performance spaces and bars—some with secret entrances. Club Arcada is located in the same building as The Arcada’s main stage, but on the third floor. The staff will wear “Gatsby Girls & Guys” attire and patrons are expected to look presentable, i.e. no t-shirts, beachwear, shorts, gym shoes, or ripped jeans. The decor reminds me of the Harlow’s club on Chicago’s southwest side back in the late 1970s, where you could catch some of the coolest bands on the club scene.

The Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights is presenting its first play of 2017 with Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Metropolis. It runs through March18.

That issue of MOJO magazine with Ray Davi.es on the cover and a free Kinks tribute CD is now available in America. Most of the artists on Something Else - A Tribute To The Kinks turned in low key renditions of Kinks material, with the best efforts coming from Ty Segall on “Waterloo Sunset” and former Supergrass member Gaz Coombes on “This Time Tomorrow.”

Dave Davies from The Kinks will be coming to The Arcada in St. Charles on April 8.

The Sons Of The Silent Age David Bowie tribute band will be at Martyrs’ next Saturday, March 11.

There will be an International Woman’s Day art sale from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. next Saturday, March 11 at Bourdage Pearls on Ravenswood in Chicago. Local artist Brenda Goodbread Walker will be showing some of her work and there will be an acoustic performance by Graham Elvis. at 3:00 p.m.

The Heroes And Villains Fan Fest comes to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center on the weekend of March 25 and 26, with special guests from several popular TV shows. Two-day passes for general admission are $90, Saturday only is $55, and Sunday is $45. Various forms of VIP packages are also available.

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About This Blog

Broken Hearted Toy is an eclectic celebration of creativity, with over 1,700 posts since 2009.

It's based in Chicago and covers power pop, garage, cutting-edge, and 1960s rock; along with occasional bits on art; literature; and theatre.

Top of the hill is a nice place to be at. - - - "Elevated Observations" by The Hollies.

Check out some of my other creative endeavors.

Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff is a weekly Internet show created by and starring Jeff Kelley. It mostly consists of comedy bits and obscure 1960s garage rock set to vintage TV and film clips but also spotlights entertainment events around Illinois.

Over the past few years, my wife Pam and I created a handful of series (each episode was about two minutes long) that were shown on Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. They included Manchester Gallery (see description below); Old Days, which I hosted in the persona of a cranky old man named Fritz Willoughby; Roving Reporter, where I played the clueless title character; What's With Terry?, a performance arts program; and Hanging With The Hollies, a takeoff on Breakfast With The Beatles.

I've also worked with Kelley and contributors Willy Deal and David Metzger on comedy clips. Jeff just kicked off a new season of Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff, with some cool graphics to go with his new regular features. Willy Deal is onboard, and I'm hoping to join them for some creative endeavors in the near future.

I'm particularly proud of this 21-episode comedy series Pam and I created for Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. Each installment was a few minutes long, and featured me portraying Terrence, the curator of a pop culture museum.

My original concept was to make up funny descriptions for some of the rock memorabilia I've collected, but it soon morphed into a sit-com format where my character's inept and devious ways constantly got him into trouble. The two running themes that fueled the action concerned a purloined Beatles button, and the scrambled eggs Paul McCartney was eating when he got the inspiration to compose "Yesterday."

I'm currently exploring options for pitching my Manchester Gallery web-based series to a media company that could help it reach a much larger audience.

This Chicago-based magazine has been covering rock music for close to 40 years, and has a readership of 165,000. I started contributing in 1987 and have written several feature stories and far too many album reviews to count. The Illinois Entertainer can also be found in an online edition.

After starting Broken Hearted Toy a few years back, I asked I.E.'s editor and publisher if I could post material that I had previously written for their publication, and they graciously granted me permission to do so.

Chicago Art Machine was a web-based publishing company run by Editor-in-Chief, Kathryn Born, and Managing Editor, Robin Dluzen, that included Chicago Art Magazine, Chicago DIY Film,Chicago Performance And Trailers, and TINC. Most of my submissions appeared in Chicago DIY Film and Chicago Performance And Trailers, although I contributed to all the online Chicago Art Machine publications.

Unfortunately, Chicago Art Machine has folded. I greatly enjoyed working with Kathryn and Robin, and I'm glad to see they've gone on to other projects in the arts and journalism. I hope to work with them again at some point in the future.

I was a writer and performer with this local comedy group from 1989 to 2009. Amusical parody I wrote about Arthur Andersen's Enron crisis was covered by the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, and other publications.

Famous In The Future continues to perform in the Chicago area, and has appeared at every one of the Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins theatre festivals that are held each August at the Mary-Arrchie Theatre. Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins will celebrate its 25th Anniversary in August, 2013.

Famous In The Future has a musical side project called The Rut, which occasionally plays at concert events organized by whitewolfsonicprincess, a band that's an offshoot of Black Forest Theatre.

I'm an active member of SCBWI, (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and have written two Middle Grade fantasy novels that I'm shopping to literary agents. I've finished a mystery/satiric novel that takes place amidst Chicago's alternative music scene in the mid-1980s.

Broken Hearted Toy

The blog title comes from the line, "I'm the brokenhearted toy you play with" in the song "I Can't Let Go" by The Hollies. One of the great original British Invasion bands, The Hollies continue to have an immense influence on power pop bands to this day, and have finally been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here is a video of "I Can't Let Go" being performed in 1966.